Drabbles for Belle and Rumpelstiltskin
by Lenidrabbles
Summary: 100 words per drabble. Will update as I write them. (Most drabbles are T, those with a M-rating will have a warning.)
1. Belle pre-curse (01)

For a few weeks, Belle had forced herself to a schedule that resembled her prior life.

But the Dark Castle conspired against her, lighting fires and candles through the night or offering quiet darkness whenever she slept. Her master's erratic habits provided no guidance, either.

Soon she learned to leave the hardest chores for the evening cool, and to sleep through the warmth of the late morning. Discovering that she could stay up with a thrilling novel, with nobody to chide her, convinced her to discard the notion of schedules.

It shouldn't have felt like freedom; but, oddly, _it did_.


	2. Belle pre-curse (02)

Written for Marlex at Comment Fic.

Prompt: **last sunrise**.

.-.

Belle woke up with a hard pressure under her cheek that meant she'd be wearing the imprint of a book cover. Groaning, she realized that the mark wouldn't vanish before Rumpelstiltskin's morning tea. He'd tease about her having allowed an interesting plot to steal her sleep - again.

It was too early, with the sun barely peeking outside, so Belle stayed in bed and planned how to keep her employer from noticing her silly habit.

(With Rumpelstiltskin, it was always best to plan ahead.)

Ah, yes. The boy's clothes.

There was a story there, and telling it should be distraction enough.


	3. Belle pre-curse (03)

Belle has learned that there's no need to rush to the grand hall at the sound of crashing glass and angry shouting. They are not under attack and, as Rumpelstiltskin laughingly pointed out that first time, her broom is no reliable weapon.

(He still threw her an offhand thanks for coming to the rescue of his furniture.)

She'd suggest that he talked it out instead of throwing these tantrums, but she's not _that_ brave. Maybe in time, if she feels confident that he won't shout at her instead... He could use a willing ear, she thinks.

Perhaps even a friend.


	4. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (01)

Her annoyed sigh distracts him from tossing another vase against the wall. He stands still for a second, composing himself before turning to face her. "Yes, dearie?"

Her disapproving glance travels over the destruction. "I just cleaned here," she chides.

Yes, _chides_.

It still amazes him that she will rush in where everybody else is too terrified to tread.

"I must remind you this is _my_ castle."

"And I, that if there's something you love, it's your things," she says with the exasperation of knowing he'd been lying. "Be more careful, then."

He sneers. As if carefulness has ever helped.


	5. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (02)

When Rumpelstiltskin realizes that, yes, the stubborn chit means to enter the room despite the debris on the floor, a wave of his hand clears her path. He's lost the taste for locking her in the dungeon, and trying threats and mockery just leaves him frustrated when she barges in anyway.

The girl must be desperate for company.

"Thank you," she says, but instead of her usual politeness, a mischievous grin accompanies her words.

"For...?" he asks, intrigued at this unexpected development.

Belle points to the place of the - now destroyed - collection of skull figurines. "I hated dusting those off!"


	6. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (03)

This time Belle must be careful in her approach. After a year and more, she's grown familiar with Rumpelstiltskin's moods, flickering though they are. This is not one of his usual rages, as the pristine room can attest, and Belle discovers she'd rather pick up broken bric-a-brac and slashed paintings than break this tense silence.

Instead she perches on the table, purposely picks a spot within his reach, and orders herself not to push. Not this time.

Rumpelstiltskin doesn't share his troubles. He doesn't even acknowledge her presence.

But he doesn't send her away, either.

Belle counts it as progress.


	7. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (04)

Written for TigrisWolf at Comment Fic

Prompt: **My enemies say, "when will he die and be forgotten?"**

**.-.**

"Should I ever be away for long," Rumpelstiltskin says earnestly one day, "don't leave the castle. You're safer here."

She doesn't understand the point of the warning. "You leave often enough," she reminds him, "and I've yet to put foot outside."

"Ah, but I'm not talking of mere days, dearie. My enemies want me dead and forgotten." The words should be ominous, but instead they're dipped in giggly relish. "I might oblige them at some point."

As Belle cannot imagine him vanquished, one possibility remains: "You'll trick them, you mean."

Her insights don't shock him anymore.

"I'm glad."

_That_ does.


	8. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (05)

Rumpelstiltskin is fastidious with his tea tonight, keeping her around to refill his cup. He rarely makes such overt requests for her attention (and compared to popping up while she's sweeping a hallway, this _is_ overt), so Belle stands still, waiting for his next step.

His thumbnail starts clicking against the china before he speaks, "There's this book in the library... Red bindings, really thick tome-"

"Oh, I've just started it. Do you... do you want it?"

"Well. I _guess_ you could read it out loud. For the two of us."

"Of course." Belle hides a smile. "That sounds fair."


	9. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (06)

It's difficult to think of Rumpelstiltskin as her master when he seeks her in the kitchen and vanishes the ingredients for their dinner to force her focus onto him. "If the meat comes out too hard," she warns, "don't blame me."

Rumpelstiltskin makes a dismissing sound. "You won't care once you've seen the new addition to your library."

"_More_ books?"

Her delight meets a raised eyebrow. "You need more?"

Belle grows sheepish. "No, of course not. You've given me enough."

There's a luxurious reading couch waiting for her.

Before the season ends, all her shelves are filled to the brim.


	10. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (07)

"Mmm, delicious!" Rumpelstiltskin breaks into a rare true compliment as he tastes her new recipe. "Know what'd go great with this? Dessert. Pity you haven't made any for a while."

"You mean, after you accused me of poisoning you?"

"Ah, yes." His lips twist in a grimace. "There was room for improvement. Whole lengths of it. Refrain yourself from baking, dearie," he continues, disregarding her growing annoyance. "Your stews and soups shall suffice."

"At least you approve of something," Belle says huffily as she snatches the dishes away.

Rumpelstiltskin watches her offended retreat. So fearless!

Yes, he just might approve.


	11. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (08)

Belle strides into his study with an impunity generals would envy. "It's torn," she says, voice shriller than usual, as she holds up a dirty coat.

Indeed, it's the one with slashes across the chest. He forgot to trash it away.

It's not until he catches her looking for a matching injury that he understands her meaning. "You've seen me struck before, girl," he sighs impatiently.

"By a _magical_ bow. How am I to know how you fare against normal weapons?"

That's... not a stupid question, actually. "I'm fine." He glares at her, unsettled by her worry. "Is that all?"

.-.

**A.N.** ...and that's all for this time. Until the next time the muse attacks!

Thanks for reading. If you've got the time, do mention which one of this batch was your favorite.


	12. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (09)

Belle kept a wary distance from the box on the table. After the mishap with the unicorn bones - which he _had_ left covered, but had the curious girl thanked him for his consideration? - the girl had gained a modicum of restraint.

But only a modicum, as proved by her inching closer when she thought he wasn't looking.

"Go on, go on," he urged, tired of her hesitation. "Is this" -a ridiculous bow appeared on top of the box- "enough of a clue?"

"A gift?" Her brows climbed up in surprise. "For me?"

Rumpelstiltskin glared impatiently.

Belle grinned back. "Thank you."


	13. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (01)

**RATED M**

**RATED M**

**RATED M**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**.-.**

He wants to go slow, be gentle, prove that for once he can be patient and considerate _and he loves her so much_. But she's dragging his hand down between her thighs, pressing herself against his fingers, and her _yes_ is a hiss against his lips.

"Sweetheart," he says, trying to ignore the curls that brush against his skin, the wetness that welcomes him with such enthusiasm. "Sweetheart," he repeats, because he can be patient, he _can_.

She slides against him, calling him _my love, my darling_ and pleading for _now_ and _harder_.

"Oh, sweetheart," he sighs.

But he obeys.


	14. Rumpelstiltskin pre-curse (01)

The memory of Milah stays longer than the woman herself ever did _(poor, disappointed Milah, yearning for adventure - Milah, the lost - that heartless whore)_ but its sting eventually lessens and fades.

When he meets Cora, her child already links their futures; but Rumpelstiltskin seeks to bind them tighter, to sweep her away into a grand adventure and, once denied, wonders when he'll forget her as well.

Then Belle is living in his castle, dreaming up her own adventure within its walls, claiming to dream of him even as he sends her away (to her death) and _this_ he'll forever regret.


	15. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (10)

If he had a kinder disposition for seafaring, he'd compare the girl to the waves of the ocean, always coming and going, always purposeful and so very _alive_. But, if he must think of her, he'll think of the thousand little rivers her footsteps have marked along his hallways, all converging next to him in the great room.

For the silly girl cannot be made afraid of him - he, who makes kingdoms quake and sets worlds atremble! - and instead she stays, and smiles and...

(he could drown in her kindness)

...and he'd rather not think of the girl at all.


	16. Rumpelstiltskin pre-curse (02)

Rumpelstiltskin has long lived in solitude. There is no son to protect, no lover's whims to indulge. There is only stone and darkness and his many treasures, and a silence that's broken only by the pleas of the desperate.

Had anyone asked why it must be so, he'd have laughed and said it couldn't be any other way.

But Belle never asks the expected questions. Instead she tears down the silence along with his curtains, smiles sweetly and joins him for tea when he's never invited her.

He might be an island, but she's become the sea all around him.


	17. Belle pre-curse (04)

With time comes confidence, and though it's not quite like bravery, it's enough to go about her duties in the Dark Castle. It's a relatively easy burden, when one considers the size of Rumpelstiltskin's home and her position as his lone servant. Magic tends to the bigger tasks, and Belle suspects it could do everything else - but it wouldn't have a personal touch, would it?

So she leaves proof of her presence as she works: an open book, a discarded shawl, her sewing kit... And Rumpelstiltskin, who notices everything and could wave it all away, never mentions it at all.


	18. Belle pre-curse (05)

Keeping the castle clean is important, of course, though Belle has no doubt that every room would be fit for a royal ball at one word from their master. She's discovered, though, that her main duty lies... elsewhere.

She's learned to prepare Rumpelstiltskin's favorite meals, and to watch him at breakfast to decide whether he'll want her visiting at midday, and to ask questions when he needs to be distracted. And she smiles, because he's yet to notice the change.

She wonders how he'll react, the day he finally realizes she's taking better care of him than of his state.


	19. Belle pre-curse (06)

Rumpelstiltskin's state is as large as he boasted that first night. After these many months, Belle still is not sure to have inspected the dozens of rooms, much less every spot in the outside grounds. If she allowed it, she could spend her life dedicated to the castle, with only her books to distract her.

But that would be the easy path.

It might be enough to satisfy her contract with Rumpelstiltskin, but Belle knows that there must be more to life. Even if she never leaves, her future is still her choice.

And she'll make the most of it.


	20. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (11)

During her first winter in Rumpelstiltskin's castle, Belle finally finds her footing as part of his household. It shouldn't have been difficult, when he's expressly assigned her duties as caretaker; but there's the letter of the deal, and then there's...

"That smells good," Rumpelstiltskin trills, eyeing the plate she carries.

"Oh, you'll like it," she says confidently. "I doubled the butter and spared the pepper."

He looks pleased for an instant, but then turns suspicious, clearly wondering why she's literally catering to his tastes.

Belle almost sighs.

Dusting the entire castle isn't as exhausting as taking care of its master.


	21. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (12)

The girl is always there. She never makes demands; never asks questions he's not willing to answer, never makes him feel unwelcome, and never _ever_ shies away or shows the least bit of fear...

"Aren't you scared?" he asks once, truly baffled. "At all?"

The girl grows pensive. "Well, yes." He's about to crow in triumph when she continues. "There are plenty of scary things here, but I don't think they can be _that_ dangerous if you keep them within reach, right?"

"Such an odd girl!" he giggles, shaking his head.

"Is that a problem?"

He shrugs. "Haven't decided yet."


	22. BelleRumpelstiltskin pre-curse (13)

Written for **TigrisWolf** at Comment Fic. Prompt: **once in a while, the sea just finds it amusing to let the earth win (Matilyn Singer)**

**.-.**

Rumpelstiltskin never expected his maid to be _so close_ all the time; the girl was supposed to hide herself in her room (in her dungeon, actually, and be grateful for the lock) and skulk about to do her chores while he was away.

Instead Belle, ever-present Belle, humming-as-she-works Belle, cuts through his solitude like the sea would erode the toughest cliff, and she doesn't even jump fearfully when he snaps at her to move on and leave him to spin in peace.

"Of course," she submits, obeying him as she should - but he catches her amused smile as she leaves.

.-.

**A.N.** And that's it for the latest batch. If you find that several of them had a sea/earth feeling, the prompt should tell you why. Hope you had a good time with this snippets!


	23. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (02)

Written for **Marlex** at Comment Fic. Prompt: **"If you're reading this, I'm dead. I'm sorry. I had to try."** (post-it challenge)

**.-.**

Belle finds the note tucked into one of the tomes that crossed over after the last curse. She gulps down a sob mid-way through it, not because of the contents, and not because she misses Neal, but because she knows that, even though they were by themselves when he wrote it, this message isn't for her.

She must have made some distressed sound, because Rumple's worried voice comes from the front of the store. "Belle?"

His son's death it too recent, too raw. She can't show this to him. Not yet.

"Spider," she manages. "Don't worry."

He laughs. "I won't."


	24. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (03)

Written for **DoreyG** at Comment Fic. Prompt: **Stephanotis: Marital bliss** (Language of Flowers challenge)

**.-.**

Belle was never a florist's daughter, and Lacey never bothered to learn the subtleties of her father's trade, but in the Enchanted Forest, there were things every girl of marriageable age knew.

For example, which flowers promised marital bliss.

"Of course," her father says when she picks out the little white blossoms for her wedding bouquet. "I should've-"

He should have offered these, he means.

"It's okay," Belle tells him.

The flower is just a nod to tradition, anyway. The promise that counts is Rumpelstiltskin's, and (for better or worse, until death do them part) Rumpelstiltskin never breaks a deal.


	25. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (04)

Double-drabble. You'll see why.

Written for **Yuidirnt** at Comment Fic. Prompt: **What if I accidentally swallow it?"**

**.-.**

As Belle explored this world, she discovered things both beautiful and terrible, useful and amusing, and some were just... baffling. "What if I accidentally swallow it?"

Ruby laughed. "It's just bubblegum." -and she offered a little green piece- "Here. Try it."

And because she _did_ trust her new friend, Belle popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened at the sharp taste. "Not bad," she said at last, cautiously chewing.

"Told you so." Ruby blew a bubble and popped it, laughing again at Belle's obvious curiosity. "I'll teach you how to do that next," she promised.

Belle nodded. "Sounds great."

**.-.**

Ruby was so nervous that the sight that greeted her in the pawnshop didn't fully register until after the pair had put some distance between them.

"Ruby!" Belle gasped, already blushing.

If disaster weren't looming, Ruby would have teased her. Or maybe not, because Mr. Gold - _Rumpelstiltskin -_ was standing by. "Ah... I..."

"Yes, Miss Luc-?"

He frowned. Apparently, her name had gotten tangled around a piece of gum he'd not realized had slipped into his mouth.

Belle blushed harder.

Ruby groaned. Coming to ask about her cape was bad enough, but this must be the worst part of her day.


	26. Rumpelstiltskin pre-curse (03)

It's best that the girl is gone, Rumpelstiltskin thinks and thinks again as the wheel spins. She was a nuisance, a whim, a betrayer at worst and a weakness at the very best (or was it the other way around?). The castle does well without her, without her dusting, without her sweeping and mopping and smiling and their little conversations.

Yes, the castle does well indeed.

She'll do better, too, he thinks sometimes, letting the wheel slow down and the straw turn to ashes. In her home, with her people and her pretty clothes.

Yes, it's best that she's gone.


	27. Rumpelstiltskin pre-curse (04)

Regina must be lying - _she must!_

It cannot be true - _it can't!_

But of course it's true. It's what life does to him. He loses everything he-

He loses _everything_, and it doesn't matter that he's already lost Belle. It was his choice. It doesn't count. He sent her away, thinking to spare himself _this_. Better to get rid of her than to lose her, right? Better her anger than her scorn, right? So smart he was! Ordered her to go, to leave, to return to her family (hah!), and now she's dead because of it.

_Of course it's true_.


	28. Rumpelstiltskin pre-curse (05)

And that's it for this time. Not as many, but I hope you liked them! :)

.-.

Written for **Marlex** at Comment Fic. Prompt: **sometimes with loss comes clarity**

.-.

"She died," Regina tells him with such relish that he wants to choke the smile out of her. But he cannot move, cannot speak but for a gasped denial. In his own castle, behind his best defenses, he's laid low by the images that accompany those words: the girl, hurt and bleeding, broken and worse, despair leading her to a last act of defiance (and it would be defiance, to the end).

There's a sob building in his throat. A howl that cannot - must not - be heard by another soul.

The Dark One doesn't love.

But Rumpelstiltskin... Rumpelstiltskin might have.


	29. Rumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (01)

Written for ELD at Comment Fic. Prompt: **The loss of something absolutely nonessential to anyone but the person who lost it.**

**.-.**

Of course Moe doesn't know what he's taken, this one little thing he's squirreled away. He doesn't understand that he could have kept everything else instead. By all gods, Gold would have conveniently forgotten about the whole thing, if Moe had returned what really mattered to him.

Because Gold doesn't need the hassle of the sheriff looking too closely into his business.

(Because he once promised this man would be safe.)

But deals are broken when the other party's dead, he's suddenly decided today.

_He wants it back._

(He wants _her_ back. But he'll settle for the chipped cup instead.)


	30. Rumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (02)

A.N. This and the rest of this batch of drabbles are all set within Belle's first night in Storybrooke.

Happy reading!

**.-.**

**.-.**

**.-.**

Walking through the rabble caused by the wraith feels like penance, with his hurting leg, but it's a lighter punishment than he deserves. Today he's come too close to lying to Belle, so close that she cannot see the difference at all, and now that his thirst for vengeance is sated (now that he's seen the terror in Regina's eyes), Rumpelstiltskin feels...regretful.

Oh, he'd do it again, he doesn't hold illusions about that. He's centuries too old to learn new tricks, and better that his anger consume others rather than himself.

He can take the blame. He always has.


	31. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (05)

Rumpelstiltskin mentions a carriage, a 'car' they can't use with the streets in such disarray, and apologizes for the inconvenience of needing to walk to his house.

(He says _disarray_. Belle thinks _chaos_, and shudders at the idea of the unholy thing that caused this - and the fact that Rumpelstiltskin bid it come.)

"I don't mind," she tells him, though her legs are already complaining about the trek to the well and back. It's been years since she's walked more than a few yards at a time - decades! "Let's go."

Pain can wait.

All she wants is to go home.


	32. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (06)

Belle can practically hear the thoughts running through his mind as they walk. She knows he hates feeling guilty; she'd seen it often enough, when a spell misfired in a room she'd just cleaned or a magical object wasn't tamed well enough not to try to kill its new master's maid. She knows he's quick to shove the guilt on someone else's head, though with them alone at the Dark Castle, and she unknowing in the ways of magic, there had been little to blame her for.

She knows that he's thinking of apologizing.

She also knows that he won't.


	33. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (07)

Belle sneaks a glance at his right leg, trying to come to terms with this new weakness of his. It's not that Rumpelstiltskin falters in his step, for all that his cane encounters debris and broken glass, but Belle remembers him striding easily along the castle halls, his thoughts locked on whatever new deal or spell entertained him that day. She remembers trailing after him in the Sherwood Forest, and how swift his movements had been as he single-mindedly tracked his prey.

Now he must spare a thought to where he treads next.

What else has changed, since she left?


	34. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (08)

Midway to his home, Belle realizes she had expected Rumpelstiltskin to discard the cane already. What could have injured his leg so terribly, that even the return of magic is not healing it?

In her last months in Avonlea, when every hand was needed to treat the soldiers, Belle had seen enough to guess what kind of wound would need the permanent aid of a cane, and what mind-numbing pain it would have caused.

And Rumpelstiltskin had endured it alone in an empty castle.

If for nothing else, she hates the Queen for locking her away when he needed help.


	35. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (09)

"What happened?" she asks at last, unable to hold off her worry. She has seen an arrow strike through his heart, and Rumpelstiltskin laughed it off as a mere annoyance. The fact that something has hurt _him_, that he _can _be hurt... It scares her.

He gives the bad leg a hard glare. "Nothing of interest," he tells her. "A stubborn old injury, that's all."

Belle blinks in confusion. "Old? But..."

"Maybe later," he snaps, picking up the pace. "If you still wish to know."

He's hoping she will have forgotten by then, she knows.

"All right."

But she won't.


	36. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (10)

Belle never imagined that Rumpelstiltskin had been mourning her - and mourn he had. The girl who'd walked into his shop earlier today hadn't known what to make of Mr. Gold's effusive reaction (except to intuit that he meant to protect her, whatever his reasons), but Belle has lived with the man for almost two years. No matter what face he wears now, she can read his emotions as she replays the memory.

He's truly believed she was dead, all these years.

She might have been jailed away, but Belle has the feeling that he's the one who suffered the most.


	37. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (11)

Belle is not sure why it shocks her, when she's already seen how different this world is, but it takes her a moment to absorb that _this_ is Rumpelstiltskin's home. She glances up, part of her hoping to see a tower that overlooks their surroundings (she can't imagine Rumpelstiltskin being comfortable without knowing who's coming well before they're at his door), but is disappointed.

It's... just a house.

"It'll look more familiar from the inside," he promises, giving a crooked smile. "More cramped than before, as well."

Belle can't help raising a skeptical eyebrow. "You tease."

He laughs. "I wish."


	38. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (12)

This time, when Rumpelstiltskin welcomes her into his home, his hand rests gently at the small of her back as he guides her through the door. The inside is dark for a few seconds until he turns the overhead lights on (and these she knows, for all that the one in her cell was much dimmer), and suddenly the room is both too big (she could fit her cell in one corner, Belle thinks) and so very small (they'd fit this all in one hallway of the castle).

But Rumpelstiltskin is standing by her side.

That's what'll make this home.


	39. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (13)

Belle is even more useless in the kitchen than when she first came to him. At least then she'd recognized the appliances, even if she'd never handled them before. Tonight she must listen carefully to Rumpelstiltskin's every instruction, and both marvel at and be dismayed by the many novelties.

"Please promise you won't get mad if I burn down this place?" she says, eyeing his every movement as he lights the stove.

He glances back at her, a little smirk on his face. "Did I fuss much every other time?"

Belle blushes. "It was just the once!"

And he laughs.


	40. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (14)

Knife already in hand, Belle belatedly realizes that there's no need to slice their bread. Who takes the time to handle _someone else's _bread? Truly, she understood life in the Dark Castle better than here. "How did you get used to this..." She waves around the perplexing kitchen. "..._all _this?"

Rumpelstiltskin stops stirring the contents of the pot (which smell delicious, for all they came from a can), and considers her question carefully. "The curse took care of that," he says at last.

Belle thinks of her own confusion, not much better despite her returned memories. "Must have been nice."


	41. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (15)

Belle is exhausted when dinner is finished, as if now that she's safe her body is getting even for the decades without a truly restful moment. Rumpelstiltskin catches her yawning and wraps up his explanation of how the cold box - the fridge - works.

"I'm sorry," she says, fighting yet another yawn mid-word.

But unlike the times he found her struggling stubbornly through another chapter well after midnight, now he doesn't tease. "Come," he says, coming to his feet and leading the way to the stairs.

Last time, he shoved her into a dungeon.

Tonight, he shows her to his room.


	42. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (16)

Since her arrival, Belle has spied little bits of their old life around the house; but in this room she doesn't recognize any of the furniture. That alone tells her which room this must be. "I don't understand," she says, half-frozen at the doorway.

In the Dark Castle, his private rooms were the only ones where she and her duster were never invited.

The hand at her back gives her a small push, but she resists. "I can't..."

"I'm afraid you must, sweetheart." He looks abashed as he explains, "The curse didn't make me any fonder of guests, you see."


	43. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (17)

He won't make excuses for the way they parted, nor does he apologize for abusing her trust today (for making her mad, yes, and that's it).

Yet here he is, embarrassed that he doesn't have another room ready for her.

"I guess you really couldn't have foreseen this," Belle says.

There's a flinch, but it smooths into a shrug before she can comment on it. "A most welcome surprise, I assure you," he tells her, ushering her into his bedroom. "Now, you rest. I'll be-"

"Here." She smiles when he wavers. "Stay, Rumpelstiltskin."

He looks confused, but he still nods.


	44. Belle Storybrooke (01)

She was supposed to be dead. For years, that's what Rumpelstiltskin had believed; since he's been awake in this world, he's believed it too.

There _is _a reason he never came to her rescue.

Belle is shamefully grateful for that fact.

He was so determined, when he made her go. He'd always been so unwilling to admit to a mistake. Too many times she had been afraid he'd have forced his memory to forget her; that, in her prolonged absence, he'd convince himself it wasn't love.

But he was _missing _her instead. Mourning her.

Yes, her gratefulness is her shame.


	45. BelleRumpelstiltskin Storybrooke (18)

**A.N.** And that's the end of this batch. Hope you liked it!

Written for Yuidirnt at Comment Fic. Prompt: **first night together**

**.-.**

They start the night on different sides of the bed, mumbling apologies every time they brush against each other. They aren't used to touch, other than the kisses they shared earlier, and as they're too exhausted for more than kisses, they feel the awkwardness of elbows and knees and cold feet.

After an hour of this, Belle muffles a giggle against her pillow, and hears a responding chuckle in the darkness. "It's hopeless," she whispers, gathering the bravery to roll until she's flush against his side, and ignores the way Rumpelstiltskin freezes at her proximity. "Isn't it better this way?"


End file.
